Effectively Use StumbleUpon to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Next to creating content, curation of content is a great Web traffic magnet. Sharing relevant and great content with your readers can establish you as a leader — the term is ‘influencer’ — in the world of social media, and in your relevant industry. The more that people trust your ability to discover great content, the more are your chances of expanding your loyal customer base.

The social bookmarking site Stumblepon managed to outrace Facebook in 2011 in the number of visitors it sent to websites. This makes one thing clear: you must include StumbleUpon in your overall social media strategy. Here is a look at how you can use StumbleUpon to benefit your business website.

1. Complete your StumbleUpon ProfileMany brands make the mistake of creating social media profiles and not completing them. It’s very important that you not only complete your StumbleUpon profile, but make it comprehensive. Let visitors know about your interests. Include a relevant image that speaks about your brand. Use your company logo if possible, but if it doesn’t scale down well to the space allowed for your profile picture, use any other relevant image instead. Based on your profile visitors will decide whether they will want to connect with you.Also, add a StumbleUpon badge on your business website, so people can instantly ‘stumble’ your blog posts or other articles. This is great for drawing short- and long-term traffic to your site.

2. Be Strategic About Your Content SubmissionsPlan your content submissions and curation carefully. Note that it’s as important to stumble other relevant articles as submitting your own, to avoid looking like a spammer. Also, make sure the content you stumble is of the very best quality. You want to be known as a member that shares valuable content.

Of course, you must also include a great description and title that stands out with each share. There are plenty of stumbles going into the newsfeeds of other members, so make yours special. Adding an image whenever possible is a great way to draw attention.

3. Connect With Other MembersYou have to be social on social media. And StumbleUpon is first and foremost a social sharing network. Therefore, connect with other members by searching (with relevant keywords) for people who share content relevant to your industry or niche. Check out the profiles you cull, and choose those you think will be interested in what you share. These are your potential customers as well as sources of great content.

A good practice is to share a personal note with any content that you share directly with your followers. And just as you hope they will stumble your content and give you greater visibility, be sure to share what they post as well. In this way, you can create reciprocal relationships that will go a long way in bringing you the exposure you seek.

4. Create a StumbleUpon ChannelOne of StumbleUpons highly popular features that was recently tested, the StumbleUpon channels, are meant to offer the same kind of functionality as YouTube channels, Facebook Pages and LinkedIn Company Pages. There is a scope to create Brand Channels in particular, where your hand-picked content is shared on your channel, becoming a part of your followers’ feeds. This will send only pre-culled audiences to your stream, increasing the chances of your shared content getting a ‘stumble.’

Unfortunately, StumbleUpon has currently closed the creation of new channels, so be sure to watch for that feature to open again.

5. Pay for StumbleUpon ExposureYou can also pay for a short-term boost to the traffic the website drives to your site. The Paid Discovery feature has several advertising plans that you can subscribe to. Here’s how it works: You pay and StumbleUpon features your links to other members. This is a great way to increase exposure with members, and the higher the price you pay, the greater the engagement.

Remember, however, this should only be a short-term measure to draw followers. If adopted on the long- term, it can make you appear self-promotional, and no savvy consumer will respect that.

In conclusion I would say that if you are a brand looking for ways to use social media for greater visibility, StumbleUpon is a great, free option to do so. Go and get your StumbleUpon account now.

About the author: Collins Paris writes content that snaps, crackles and pops on a variety of topics related to web based business and working from home from SEO and Web marketing to writing and eCommerce. To find out more sizzling content, visit him at WebBusinessAgenda.com.